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These new housing laws will take effect next month
Manufactured homes, mobile homes, trailers — whatever they’re referred to as, this type of housing has offered tenants an affordable option to become homeowners. But they haven’t offered as much stability. That’s where Virginia lawmakers have passed some laws to help neighbors around the state have a little more peace of mind. For example, should a mobile home park be sold for redevelopment, a new law will require some financial assistance to help residents relocate and another new law strengthens protections for residents’ leases. The mobile-home-specific proposals are among a suite of housing laws that will take effect next month ...
Virginia Exits the California EV Way
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spread his anti-fossil fuel gospel far beyond California, but last week he lost a follower. Virginia canceled its plan to adopt West Coast vehicle standards, offering drivers freedom instead of climate dogma. Gov. Glenn Youngkin said his state won’t phase out sales of gas-powered vehicles, despite a 2021 law that might have set Virginia on course to ban them by 2035, as California will. “The idea that government should tell people what kind of car they can or can’t purchase is fundamentally wrong,” he said.
For years, an esteemed GMU law professor seduced students. Was he too important to fire?
Anhvinh Wright called Lindsey Edwards to ask if she was having an affair with her husband, setting off a string of damning conversations that threatened one of Big Tech’s greatest allies. Lindsey says you have a lot of things to tell me. Like about other women, she told her husband, Joshua Wright, in February 2020. Wright had hidden a yearslong sexual relationship with Edwards that started when she was a law student and he was a professor at her school. Wright helped Edwards join him at the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Washington, where the affair continued.
New judge to hear challenge of Virginia’s withdrawal from clean-air initiative
A new judge appointed to hear a challenge of Virginia’s withdrawal from a multi-state clean air program is being asked to vacate a prior judge’s ruling. In February, Floyd County Circuit Judge Mike Fleenor denied a motion filed by Virginia’s attorney general to dismiss the lawsuit, which contests the state’s decision to leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Fleenor recused himself three weeks later, citing a conflict of interest. Now that retired Judge Randall Lowe has been designated to hear the case, the state is asking him to vacate Fleenor’s Feb. 7 order that allowed the lawsuit to proceed.
From VPAP Now Live: Pre-Primary Campaign Finance Disclosures
VPAP has posted pre-primary disclosures from candidates running in November for local offices. Our overview page is a convenient place to jump to what interests you — mayor, city council or school board. We rank each group of committees by most raised and cash on hand. If you are interested in a specific committee, you can drill down for a sortable list of donors and expenditures from April 1 through June 6.
‘Limited supply’ leads to increased demand for local administrators
Caroline County officials were alarmed when County Administrator Charles Culley unexpectedly submitted his letter of resignation last fall. Culley is a veteran administrator with 30 years of experience in county government. At the time, Caroline was exploring several major development projects, including data centers, and its board of supervisors did not believe anyone on the staff was capable of taking over the reins. Salary data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request showed that Culley was earning $201,929 per year when he resigned. The board of supervisors were able to convince him to stay, and starting this past Jan. 1, Culley’s salary grew to $247,803 — a raise of nearly $46,000 per year in the middle of a budget cycle.
Members of Richmond’s Jewish community discuss fear in face of rising antisemitism
Rabbi Sherry Grinsteiner knows what it’s like to live in fear. In summer 2001, Grinsteiner, who leads Congregation Or Atid on Patterson Avenue, was in Israel — visiting her parents with her four children, her youngest son only 10 months old. It was the height of the second intifada — a Palestinian rebellion against Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Over 1,000 Israelis were killed and thousands more injured during that roughly 5-year-long uprising, which was characterized in large part by shootings and suicide bombings against civilians, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Bus stations, restaurants and other public places were frequent targets of terrorist violence.
Poverty mires many in segregated schools; some seek solutions
Growing up in Fairfield Court, a housing project in Richmond’s East End, Samantha Thompson did not know her family was poor. The 12th of 13 children, Thompson had not seen much outside of the neighborhood until, during a short-lived period of mandated school busing, she attended an integrated school about 30 minutes from home. In the 1980s at what was then Jefferson Huguenot Wythe High School, she met classmates who drove cars, knew how to play tennis and had parents who were doctors and lawyers. Thompson had always been a smart kid but had never thought that attending college was an option.
EVMS, ODU celebrate merger to create Virginia’s largest health sciences center
The first recipients of dozens of new full-ride health science scholarships will attend classes at Old Dominion University this fall, but they haven’t been notified yet. They haven’t even been selected. That’s because the primary support for these scholarships, two gifts totaling $40 million, was just announced Friday afternoon at a celebration of the long-awaited merger of Eastern Virginia Medical School and Old Dominion University, which will officially take place on July 1. Leaders unveiled the name of the program: Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. It will be the largest health sciences center in Virginia ...
Republican investment in Virginia coming ahead of presidential election, GOP chair says
Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin doubled down on an idea that has been kicked around among pollsters and campaign folks recently: The commonwealth is in play for conservatives in the 2024 General Election. Virginia has trended blue during presidential races since 2008 but some in the Republican Party believe that could change in November. ... On CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper on Thursday, Youngkin echoed the optimism of Trump’s campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, who told NBC in May that Republicans have an opportunity to expand the map in Virginia.